Pressure ulcers are prone to develop on those who are confined to bed or wheelchair and those who cannot turn over or reposition themselves in bed, in particular, at body parts with bony prominences apt to be subjected to compression, for example, lower backs, buttocks, and the like. The direct cause of pressure ulcers is cessation of blood flow due to local compression. Further, if the skin is continuously exposed to liquid matters such as urine and stool for a long time, the surface of the skin is weakened and likely to be damaged, which is also prone to cause pressure ulcers.
Conventional absorbent articles allow urine to run in a clearance between the crotch portion of a wearer and the article and move over the skin of the wearer, and wet the sacrum and coccyx parts with a tendency to have pressure ulcers, whereby pressure ulcers become likely to develop there. Such a clearance is preferred in terms of efficient use of the absorbent body by spreading urine over the entire absorbent body extending almost entirely from the ventral to back sides, but this is not preferred in terms of prevention of pressure ulcers.
To solve the foregoing problem, there have been suggested absorbent articles with pockets for holding body waste (refer to Patent Literatures 1 and 2). However, each of these articles produces a clearance between the entry edge of the pocket and the body of a wearer, and hence is not capable of guiding urine running over the skin into the pocket.